Wilderness Blues- Ramblings from the Great Land

 I  invited my daughter Jen over for dinner last night. She and her daughter came. It was a delightful meal  I must admit. I made Halibut Olympia and English pea salad. We also had some pickled beets and green jello with pears. Lovely. Afterwards she wanted to either go on a walk or a drive. I opted for the drive since my legs were sore from climbing up and down the ladder yesterday slapping some paint on the house. For whatever reason, Jen loves car air fresheners. I don't know why. There have been plenty of times when I wish I'd had one for my car, like after I've hauled bait in the front seat or packed a load of neoprene gloves that I use to clean fish. Inevitably they get holes in them and of course the blood and slime gets inside and it doesn't take long for them to exude a stench that can take your breath away, or perhaps you just wish it would. Anyway, we went for a drive in her car last night, and upon entering I noticed an overpowering smell. Initially ...

 This past Monday was Labor Day- a day of celebrating the folks whose hard work has made America what it is. It's kind of the unofficial end of summer I guess, although by the look and feel of the weather here in Southeast Alaska, summer started giving way to fall during the first week of August. That's when the cottonwood and alder trees started to turn from green to gold. My daughter Liz and her husband and youngest child rented a cabin from the Forest Service out at False Bay during the Labor Day weekend, along with Jen and Kaylahni. They invited us out for dinner, so of course we had to go. When the chance to eat your kid's food comes up by all means take advantage of it. It's payback time. Of course there was hot dogs and chips and soda, but there was also shisk- ka -bobs on the grill, which was an added treat. I noticed that Jen was sitting on a makeshift bench, and the smoke from the wood fire kept drifting right towards her. I...

  I've been trying unsuccessfully to access the internet for the past few weeks. I'm not really sure what's going on. At best it's been sporadic, so doing a post has been very difficult. However, for the immediate time being, I do have the internet, so I'm going to attempt to post something.  Several weeks ago, during a rather extended hot spell that we were going through, I had the wonderful idea of enjoying a delicious rootbeer float, and believe me, enjoy it I did. This particular rootbeer is a delightful brand sold at the local market, Henry Wienhard's. It's some of the best I've ever tasted. When I was a kid Barq's root beer was the local favorite. I don't know if they still make it or not. Hire's root beer was always good, and of course one of the highlights growing up was a trip to the root beer stand on a hot summer night for a frosty mug. Oh my! I did a little research on the origin of root beer. Apparently some semblance of it h...